Loading Optimized/Default Settings Broke My Windows

[dStar]

Hello LTT forums,

I had something interesting happening.

 

So I upgraded my CPU and GPU (i9 9900k and a 2080TI) running on a ASUS PRIME Z370-A Mobo.

After installing my new parts and starting up I noticed once I got into Windows that my CPU was running at a constant 4.7GHz, and I then remembered that i had forgot to remove my previous OC before installing my new CPU.

Which I suppose wasn´t an issue since POST was fine and the system seemed to be stable in Windows aswell.

 

However, since it was an OC profile meant for my previous CPU ( i7 8700K) I figured id load optimized defaults in the BIOS and start anew.

And this is where something odd happened, after loading the default settings in BIOS (meaning not even putting on a XMP profile yet) Windows wouldnt be able to start.

The regular spinning wheel appeared for 5-10 seconds and would then dissapear leaving my system proudly just rendering the ASUS logo indefinently. And after a couple of restarts Windows would try to repair itself as it usually does after a couple of failed boots.

 

So, my Windows somehow decided to peform seduko by loading the optimized default settings.

Has anyone any idea of why this could be? A fix even perhaps? 

Is it me being crazy and/or downright stupid? 

Any input would be much appreciated!

 

In the meanwhile, have a nice day :^)

[Snowarch]

well, did you check the bios before hand? i know the stock bios of Z390/370 won't allow the 9900k. can you even get to bios? the ai overclocking is bad for that cpu i read somewhere. 

[Snowarch]

nice build tho. 

[dStar]

1 minute ago, Snowarch said:

well, did you check the bios before hand? i know the stock bios of Z390/370 won't allow the 9900k. can you even get to bios? the ai overclocking is bad for that cpu i read somewhere. 

Hello, no I as i said forgot to remove my old OC profile in the BIOS from when i was on my 8700k, however I was able to be stable in Windows regardless and only after loading the default optimized settings (meaning removing the overclock) did my Windows break, I can still get in to bios however and have always been able to.

[Snowarch]

okay, good that you can still get in. the new cpu has 8 cores instead of 6 so check all are enabled. and did you do the windows install yourself? the install may be uefi and clear cmos made it bios. or the other way around. windows is known to complain about things like this or that. check secure boot too.

[dStar]

4 minutes ago, Snowarch said:

okay, good that you can still get in. the new cpu has 8 cores instead of 6 so check all are enabled. and did you do the windows install yourself? the install may be uefi and clear cmos made it bios. or the other way around. windows is known to complain about things like this or that. check secure boot too.

All cores are enabled, everything is detected properly in the BIOS and yes everything regarding my PC has ever been done by me.

I´ve so far tried different boot settings as you mentioned with UEFI/Legacy etc.

 

It´s just im almost questioning my own sanity since at the time of writing simply loading the "Optimized Default Settings" is the only thing that made Windows not boot, because as I said I was fully into Windows and stable once the BIOS OC profile for my last CPU was loaded.

[Beerzerker]

Don't know if this is it but check your drive config, for example with some boards it can vary and if that's been changed from what it was set for when Windows was installed it will fail to boot the OS.

What I mean is whether the primary (OS) drive itself is configured as either SATA, IDE, AHCI, RAID and so on.

 

Yours definitely doesn't have IDE but there should be more than one possible config for it you can choose, you can go through each option in the BIOS and see if that eventually fixes the problem.

Hope this helps.

[Snowarch]

do you have the old cpu? if yes see if windows will boot with old settings, if it does, then wait 5 minutes after it boots, then turn off the pc with a shutdown in windows itself, turn it off, and try clear cmos then try windows. if it fails then maybe because you got in with new cpu old ol, it thinks your on old one? hard to say.

[dStar]

1 hour ago, Snowarch said:

do you have the old cpu? if yes see if windows will boot with old settings, if it does, then wait 5 minutes after it boots, then turn off the pc with a shutdown in windows itself, turn it off, and try clear cmos then try windows. if it fails then maybe because you got in with new cpu old ol, it thinks your on old one? hard to say.

I do still have my old CPU yes, however I managed to fix everything by literally overclocking. It now seems to work without issue. Thank you for your advices!

 

1 hour ago, Beerzerker said:

Don't know if this is it but check your drive config, for example with some boards it can vary and if that's been changed from what it was set for when Windows was installed it will fail to boot the OS.

What I mean is whether the primary (OS) drive itself is configured as either SATA, IDE, AHCI, RAID and so on.

 

Yours definitely doesn't have IDE but there should be more than one possible config for it you can choose, you can go through each option in the BIOS and see if that eventually fixes the problem.

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for the inputs, neither of those worked though.

For some reason what worked was literally getting into BIOS and applying overclocking settings.